


Letters to the Future

by kyrdwyn



Category: Batman (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-07
Updated: 2014-03-07
Packaged: 2018-01-14 21:09:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1278901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyrdwyn/pseuds/kyrdwyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>He picked up the fountain pen and looked down at the blank sheet of stationary.  Slowly, choosing every word carefully, he began to write.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Zero

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry. Not Sorry.

Thomas Wayne slipped into his study late at night, his mind focused on the events of the day. He sat down at his desk and picked up the fountain pen. Looking down at the blank sheet of stationary, he considered this first step of a project that would occupy his foreseeable future. Slowly, choosing every word carefully, he began to write.

_Dear Bruce,_

_Today, I held you in my arms for the first time. You were so small, so tiny. You looked so perfect, I could hardly believe that Martha and I had created you. I still can't believe that I created you, but that's a story for another time, son._

_Son. Three letters, but what they contain - my hopes, my dreams, my responsibilities, and my love for you. Do not ever doubt that I love you, son. Because I do, and I always will._

_I want to apologize to you on this, your first day of life, for the things that will happen in the future. Things that I will try my best not to do, things I will do without thought, things that I cannot prevent, no matter what I do. I am sorry for those things, son. More sorry than you will ever know._

_I also want to say that I am proud of you, will be proud of you, and the man you've become, even if I haven't met you yet._

_But above all, Bruce, I love you. And I always will._

_Your father, Thomas Wayne._


	2. Four

_Dear Bruce,_

_Today, you borrowed your mother's dress, heels, and lipstick and made yourself 'pretty like mommy'. Four years old, and already playing with disguises. No, I did not take a picture; Martha felt that might be too traumatizing for your future self. I tend to agree with her, but you did look so adorable in that outfit. Even Alfred laughed, before agreeing to take your mother shopping for 'appropriately sized dress up clothes' for you._

_You're asleep on the rug in my study now, worn out from play and from the cookies and cocoa Alfred made. You barely made it through me reading your favorite book to you. I did take a picture of you asleep on the rug, because I look at you sleeping there and know it won't last, you're growing up so fast now. My time with you is limited and these moments are fleeting. A camera is the only way I can ensure these moments last, that I can see them again before my time runs out. It will run out, Bruce, no matter how much I might wish otherwise. No matter how much both of us wish otherwise. And for that I am truly sorry._

_But never doubt, God, Bruce, please never doubt that I love you. Always, every day, no matter what, I love you son._

_Love, Dad._


	3. Six

_Dear Bruce,_

_I don't know if you will remember today's dinner conversation when you are grown - you said that you weren't sure you were going to get married when you grew up. I don't know what brought it on, and I know you did end up telling your mother that you would only marry if you found a woman like her (not surprising that a six year old boy would want his future wife to be like his mother, but that is another story), but it was very enlightening._

_I hope that you will remember that love and families come in many shapes and sizes and configurations, Bruce. You may never find that person you love with all your heart, like I did with your mother - the one you will want to wake up to every morning, kiss goodnight every evening, and spend every moment in between thinking of. And, Bruce, your mother and I will not think less of you if you don't. But don't let that stop you from having a family. You may have children with someone who isn't your wife, and that is okay, son. So is adoption, or even just taking in a child who needs love and care, being their guardian, their father figure. Families come in all shapes and sizes, son, and I will never condemn you for having a family that is not traditional. No matter who might try to tell you otherwise. I will love your family, Bruce, because they are my family, too._

_Your mother is calling to me to come say goodnight to you, so I will end this now. I love you, son._

_Love, Dad._


	4. Eight

_Dear Son,_

_As I write this, you are asleep in your bed across the room. I've tried not to cling to you today, I've tried to let you be your amazing eight year old self, but I know your mother thinks it's odd that I stayed home from work today, that I asked her to stay home today, and we plan to stay home with you tomorrow as well. Tomorrow night, as promised, we will go to the movies, to see that Zorro film you've begged us to see._

_If you're reading this, then you know what happens tomorrow, son. I am truly sorry for what did happen. Yes, I knew it was coming, but I could not stop it. You know why I couldn't stop it._

_Tomorrow night changes everything. My life, your life, Gotham's life. The lives of so many other people - Clark and Jim, Dick and Jason and Cass and Damian, Barbara and Stephanie. I have to let it happen, otherwise everything will change, and the world would be, I feel, much poorer for it, though you might disagree. I know you will disagree when tomorrow is over, and the years stretch ahead of you. I would do anything for you, son, but I can't change history._

_And you know, if you're reading this, why I say it's history. I suspect you've known for a while, though the evidence never quite added up. Little things here and there that made no sense over the years. I can see your brain working as you put them all together. As you realize what happened in the future that you are in now to cause the past. And why I can't change it. Any of it._

_Why I wouldn't change any of it. How could I? How could I change something that gave me your mother, your brilliant beautiful mother, for whom I try every day to be worthy of her calling me 'husband'. The day we met I knew she was the one, and not just because of history, Bruce, but because of who she is as a person. I thank God I will not have to live without her, nor she without me, though if I could change anything of what is to happen, I would change it so that Martha lived, so that you would have your mother. Of the two of us, she deserves to live, and I have to let her die. _

_And how could I change something that gave me my son? And I will never regret you, Bruce. You are my son. I would never change getting to hold you in my arms for the first time, so tiny and fragile. Never change getting to see your first step, hear your first word, the first time you called me dad, your first day of school... and all the moments in between that have made up this wonderful life we have together - you, your mother, and I. _

_I am proud of the man that you have become, as well as the child you are now. My biggest regret will be not getting to see you grow into the man that I will know, and admire, that I will alternatively be in awe of and resent, that I will fight beside and fight against and fight with but I will always call my Batman. A man that I was proud to call 'dad', never realizing that I was your father as well._

_I'd ask you not to mourn too much but I know you've been mourning, in some form or fashion, since the events of tomorrow night. So instead I'll ask you to remember just one thing - your mother and I love you, Bruce. We love you, and we're proud of you. We always have been. And I have been honored to know you, as your Robin, your son, and your father._

_I love you, Bruce._

_Love, your father,_

_Thomas Wayne_  
 _a.k.a. Timothy Drake_


End file.
